"Healthy sleep plays such a critical role in child and adolescent development. We know from previous research that sleep problems can lead to behavior problems, difficulties in school, obesity, and increased injuries. What's really interesting to me as a scientist is how interconnected the relationships between sleep, media use, physical activity, and mood are. If you draw a flow chart, you end up with arrows pointing in almost every possible direction. For example, you might need to change media habits or physical activity to make a big difference in a child's sleep -- but once the sleep improves, you also see positive effects on mood, behavior, and activity. And so what's exciting for me as a researcher is the big impact we can have when we work with families to optimize a child's sleep."

Michelle M. Garrison, PhD, is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Washington with a joint appointment in the School of Medicine, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the School of Public Health, Department of Health Services. She earned her PhD and MPH in Epidemiology at the University of Washington, and a BA degree in Microbiology and Plan II Honors Liberal Arts at the University of Texas Austin.

Dr. Garrisons research lab at Seattle Childrens primarily focuses on child and adolescent sleep and the dynamic relationships with media use, behavior problems, physical activity, and obesity. She develops family-centered and sustainable health behavior change interventions, and studies the long-term impact of improved sleep on child and adolescent development as well as family health and functioning. As a health services researcher, Dr. Garrison also works with colleagues across a variety of clinical fields to help them conduct research on innovative and effective ways to improve the quality of healthcare.

Overview

Medical/Professional School

Epidemiology, University of Washington School of Public Health, SeattleEpidemiology, University of Washington School of Public Health, Seattle

Research Description

Dr. Garrison's research focuses on the interactions between sleep, media use, and physical activity, and how these in turn affect child and adolescent health and behavior. Her recent research has found that evening media use is associated with sleep problems in preschool children, as is violent media content at any time of the day. Upcoming research studies include an intervention to improve sleep in preschool children; studies looking at causality in the relationships between media use, sleep problems, and obesity; and examining how different types of video games affect sleep in early adolescents.

Remote Access

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